Introduction

Hydropower is a renewable energy resource because it uses the Earth's water cycle to generate electricity. Water evaporates from the Earth's surface, forms clouds, precipitates back to earth, and flows toward the ocean. The movement of water as it flows downstream creates kinetic energy that can be converted into electricity. 2700 TWH is generated every year. Hydropower supplies at least 50% of electricity production in 66 countries and at least 90% in 24 countries. Out of the total power generation installed capacity in India of 1,76,990 MW (June, 2011), hydro power contributes about 21.5% i.e. 38,106 MW. A capacity addition of 78,700 MW is envisaged from different conventional sources during 2007-2012 (the 11th Plan), which includes 15,627 MW from large hydro projects. In addition to this, a capacity addition of 1400 MW was envisaged from small hydro up to 25 MW station capacity. The total hydroelectric power potential in the country is assessed at about 150,000 MW, equivalent to 84,000 MW at 60% load factor. The potential of small hydro power projects is estimated at about 15,000 MW.

Technology

A hydroelectric power plant consists of a high dam that is built across a large river to create a reservoir, and a station where the process of energy conversion to electricity takes place. The first step in the generation of energy in a hydropower plant is the collection of run-off of seasonal rain and snow in lakes, streams and rivers, during the hydrological cycle. The run-off flows to dams downstream. The water falls through a dam, into the hydropower plant and turns a large wheel called a turbine. The turbine converts the energy of falling water into mechanical energy to drive the generator After this process has taken place electricity is transferred to the communities through transmission lines and the water is released back into the lakes, streams or rivers. This is entirely not harmful, because no pollutants are added to the water while it flows through the hydropower plant.

Potential in India

India is blessed with immense amount of hydro-electric potential and ranks 5th in terms of exploitable hydro-potential on global scenario. As per assessment made by CEA, India is endowed with economically exploitable hydro-power potential to the tune of 1 48 700 MW of installed capacity. The basin wise assessed potential is as under :-

Basin/RiversProbable Installed Capacity (MW)

Indus Basin

33,832

Ganga Basin

20,711

Central Indian River system

4,152

Western Flowing Rivers of southern India

9,430

Eastern Flowing Rivers of southern India

14,511

Brahmaputra Basin

66,065

Total

1,48,701

In addition, 56 number of pumped storage projects have also been identified with probable installed capacity of 94 000 MW. In addition to this, hydro-potential from small, mini & micro schemes has been estimated as 6 782 MW from 1 512 sites. Thus, in totality India is endowed with hydro-potential of about 2 50 000 MW.

Installed Capacity

The total installed capacity of India is 36878 MW.

Projects

Major Hydropower generating units

NAME

STATE

CAPACITY (MW)

BHAKRA

PUNJAB

1100

NAGARJUNA

ANDHRA PRADESH

960

KOYNA

MAHARASHTRA

920

DEHAR

HIMACHAL PRADESH

990

SHARAVATHY

KARNATAKA

891

KALINADI

KARNATAKA

810

SRISAILAM

ANDHRA PRADESH

770

Top ten countries (in terms of capacity)

COUNTRY

POWER CAPACITY (MWh)

INSTALLED CAPACITY (MW)

TAJIKISTAN

527000

4000

CANADA

341312

66954

USA

319484

79511

BRAZIL

285603

57517

CHINA

204300

65000

RUSSIA

160500

44000

NORWAY

121824

27528

JAPAN

84500

27229

INDIA

82237

22083

FRANCE

77500

77500

Growth in Hydropower

Small Hydro

In India, hydro power projects with a station capacity of up to 25 megawatt (MW) each fall under the category of small hydro power (SHP).

Potential

India has an estimated SHP potential of about 15 000 MW.

Installed Capacity

The total installed capacity of small hydro power projects (upto 25 MW) as on 31.03.2009 is 2429.77 MW from 674 projects and 188 projects with aggregate capacity of 483.23 MW are under construction.

Potential and Projects

State-wise details of the potential and installed/under installation projects

S.No

State

Potential

Projects Installed

Projects Under implementation

Nos

Capacity

Nos

Capacity

Nos

Capacity

1

Andhra Pradesh

497

560.18

62

189.83

18

61.75

2

Arunachal Pradesh

550

1328.68

101

78.835

28

38.71

3

Assam

119

238.69

4

27.11

4

15

4

Bihar

95

213.25

18

58.3

11

36.31

5

Chhattisgarh

184

993.11

6

19.05

1

1.2

6

Goa

6

6.5

1

0.05

-

-

- 7

Gujarat

292

196.97

4

12.6

-

-

8

Haryana

33

110.05

7

70.1

2

3.4

9

Himachal Pradesh

536

2267.81

112

375.385

40

132.2

10

Jammu & kashmir

246

1417.80

34

129.33

5

5.91

11

Jharkhand

103

208.95

6

4.05

8

34.85

12

Karnataka

138

747.95

111

725.05

18

107.5

13

Kerela

245

704.1

20

136.87

7

23.8

14

Madhya Pradesh

299

803.64

11

86.16

4

19.9

15

Maharashtra

255

732.63

39

263.825

15

51.7

16

Manipur

114

109.13

8

5.45

3

2.75

17

Meghalaya

101

229.8

4

31.03

3

1.7

18

Mizoram

75

166.93

18

36.47

1

0.5

19

Nagaland

99

188.98

10

28.67

4

4.2

20

Orissa

222

295.47

10

79.625

5

3.93

21

Punjab

237

393.23

43

153.2

15

21.4

22

Rajasthan

66

57.17

10

23.85

-

-

23

Sikkim

91

265.55

16

47.11

2

5.2

24

Tamil Nadu

197

659.51

16

94.05

6

33

25

Tripura

13

46.86

3

16.01

-

-

26

Uttar Pradesh

251

460.75

7

23.3

-

-

27

Uttarakhand

444

1577.44

95

134.12

55

230.65

28

West bengal

203

396.11

24

98.9

16

79.25

29

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

7

7.27

1

5.25

-

-

Total

5718

15384.15

801

2953.58

271

914.81

SHP projects installed in Private Sector (as on 31.03.2009)

S.No

State

Total Number

Total Capacity

1

Andhra Pradesh

43

104.43

2

Assam

1

0.10

3

Gujarat

2

5.6

4

Himachal Pradesh

63

271.25

5

Haryana

2

7.4

6

Jammu & Kashmir

2

17.5

7

Karnataka

95

694.90

8

Kerela

3

36.00

9

Madhya Pradesh

1

2.20

10

Maharashtra

13

74.00

11

Orissa

2

32.00

12

Punjab

18

26.20

13

Tamil Nadu

1

0.35

14

Uttaranchal

10

48.30

15

West Bengal

5

6.45

Total

261

1326.68

Barriers

The energy of running water has been exploited for very many years. However, traditional approaches have suffered disadvantages due to environmental factors. For example:

Building a dam across a river floods the land that would otherwise be available for use, alters the landscape, affects the local community that would have lived and worked on the flooded land, alters the character of the river, and prevents the free movement of fish;

Diverting a river affects the nature of the countryside and does not lend itself to use on a large scale.

Permanent complete or partial blockage of a river for energy conversion is adversely affected by variations in flow.

Building large-scale hydro power plants can be polluting and damaging to surrounding ecosystems. Changing the course of waterways can also have a detrimental effect on human communities, agriculture and ecosystems further downstream.

Hydro projects can also be unreliable during prolonged droughts and dry seasons when rivers dry up or reduce in volume.

Hydro research centres

Alps Power Technologies (P) Limited

The company is manufacturing small turbines and genset up to 1000 KW, complete with microprocessor based static excitor system,microprocessor based digital governor, remote operation and telemetry and telecontrol system, chartless recorder for data etc. The company has its own manufacturing and testing facilities at its works, in ghunna industrial area, Saharanpur, India

Flovel Mecamidi

Flovel Mecamidi Energy Private Limited (FMEPL) is a joint venture between Flovel MG Holdings Private Limited, India and Mecamidi S.A., France. Promoters of Flovel MG Holdings Private Limited along with its core team have decades of experience in marketing, design, manufacture, supply, erection, commissioning & servicing of hydro power projects of all types both for local as well as export markets

Multitek Consortium is a hydro energy based company located in Delhi, India. Their range of products hydro energy system components (small), water pumps, turbine machines, gates and hoists, penstock etc.